ok, what really works to stop a cat peeing on the carpet???

[Charis1]

We have two cats, one very confident little one, one very anxious big one. They get on well. The big one is destructive, scratches furniture, walls, doors etc.I can live with that. But he also pees on the carpet, and makes the house smell.

His two favourite spots are the door mat, and behind the settee.

He is neutered. I have tried feliway, I have tried all those enzyme cleaners, and the smell that is supposed to deter them, I have tried putting an extra litter tray behind the settee, ( he doesn't use it, still pees on the carpet.) I have tried a wide variety of different litter trays with different litter all over the house, where he happily craps. He is an indoor cat, and scared to go outside. I have a stack of cheap doormats, and regularly replace them, and have even put them behind the sofa too, but he won't pee on them behind the sofa, just pees next to them!

This doesn't happen all the time, but once or twice a week.

What haven't I tried?

Interesting. And what a pain in the arse / carpet. A couple of suggestions, well 4 actually:

1. give him 2 litter trays, one for poo, the other for wee - a friend had a cat that would only use separate trays. Put one tray (the wee tray) next to where he goes at the moment then move it next to the other once he gets used to it. To get him going get a bit of his wee on kitchen roll and put it in the wee tray so that he knows what it's for. I suggest a brand new tray so that it has no traces of poo smell at all.
2. try confining (temporarily) him into one room, with 2 trays as above so that he can't go in his favourite places and has to use the room he's in
3. Google to see if a pet behavioural person has any ideas.
4. he may just be fastidiously clean and have a very sensitive sense of smell so made one of those cat loo seats (Google it) may work for him as the poo and wee goes straight into the loo?

Finally it might be territorial so make sure he has his own safe space somewhere where the other cats aren't allowed

Love cats.

We have the same problem - so am place marking really to see if anyone comes up with a new idea!
Have you had him checked at the vets? My cat goes through phases - sometimes it's just occasional and then he will have a really bad patch. Once or twice when this has happened the vets have found slight traces of crystals. Once treated he then goes back to less frequent accidents. It's got worse with age though - I think he forgets a bit now and he struggles to use the cat flap anymore so has become pretty much an indoor cat.

I have bought a Bissell Little Green carpet cleaner which does a good job of spot cleaning the carpet, saving my sanity a bit.

Love him to bits but it is a total pain!

Hi Thanks Ashbee, I have tried all your suggestions, he is still peeing behind the settee!

It wouldn't be quite so bad if I could locate it easily, and clean it up, but I can just smell it all the time, but even with those IR torches, cannot actually locate it precisely.

One of mine has, this morning, pissed all over me and the bed, pissed all over an armchair and throw and crapped on the dining table. The vet says there is nothing physically wrong with him. It used to be the Shitten who did this - the other cat would shout at her for "misbehaving". He seems absolutely terrified of everything and everyone today as well. I have reached the point where I am seriously thinking of rehoming them.

Have you tried puppy pads?
We have removed all or carpets and have hard floors. One of our cats will only wee on wool rugs and not synthetic spray with white vinegar the smell of vinegar does go. Also it is a UV light to see wee not an IR.

Have you looked at his food? One of my cats can't eat supermarket type brand cat biscuits. He has high protein (expensive!) cat biscuits. The one time I ran out and he had to have others he restarted peeing everywhere. Got his proper biscuits and it stopped again.